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12/09/12: Happy iPhone 5 Day

Essruu

By Essruu,
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solentstars

solentstars

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Be honest... Not a great deal of difference to a casual users...

 

Apple is apple and it is good... But the s3 is very impressive... I not a techno-geek but have spent a while exploring the ways you can customise the phone and it is pretty limitless. Be interesting to see what jelly bean (software uodate) will be like..... I know it will bring 4G capability to the s3..

 

Iphone 5 will be a little smaller but not much but the screen on the s3 is excellent time too and I have literally packed out a 16gb micro sim with music etc and thrown it in.... Another thing you can't do on an iPhone

 

I don't think you would be disappointed with either tbh

 

Just read iPhone 5 reviews that its 4 g might not work in UK due to the different radio spectrum it transmits on.

 

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

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solentstars

solentstars

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You could equally say the same thing about, say, the Samsung Galaxy S2v S3: yet nobody makes a fuss about that or looks to knock Samsung - because unlike Apple, nobody really expects Samsung to come up with anything groundbreaking and amazing.

 

The one big improvement the S3 had over the S2, was in the OS it ran. Yet strangely enough, this is the one area that Apple does not get enough credit for.

 

If only the iPhone 5 shipped with iOS 6, leaving the iPhone 4 & 4S with iOS 5.1.1, people would be getting excited over the whole iPhone 5 package. The fact is, Apple provide free iOS upgrades to older iPhone versions. Effectively, your iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S will become a brand new handset on 19Sep if you upgrade your firmware.

 

Yes but that's the reason why would you pay silly money to upgrade from 4 s to 5 unless it was a major upgrade .

 

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

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hypochondriac

hypochondriac

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Be honest... Not a great deal of difference to a casual users...

 

Apple is apple and it is good... But the s3 is very impressive... I not a techno-geek but have spent a while exploring the ways you can customise the phone and it is pretty limitless. Be interesting to see what jelly bean (software uodate) will be like..... I know it will bring 4G capability to the s3..

 

Iphone 5 will be a little smaller but not much but the screen on the s3 is excellent time too and I have literally packed out a 16gb micro sim with music etc and thrown it in.... Another thing you can't do on an iPhone

 

I don't think you would be disappointed with either tbh

 

I have a 32gb card already left over from my galaxy s. What is battery life like? I have a friends spotify premium account which is amazing and means I can stick my phone in the car and listen to whatever I want streamed. I think I may hold off to see how likely we are to see a jailbreak for the iphone. Last time I had one there really were some killer features you could only get by jail breaking. (Bitesms quick reply and being able to move to the next track by pressing the volume up button for instance. )

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saintbletch

saintbletch

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You could equally say the same thing about, say, the Samsung Galaxy S2v S3: yet nobody makes a fuss about that or looks to knock Samsung - because unlike Apple, nobody really expects Samsung to come up with anything groundbreaking and amazing.

 

The one big improvement the S3 had over the S2, was in the OS it ran. Yet strangely enough, this is the one area that Apple does not get enough credit for.

 

If only the iPhone 5 shipped with iOS 6, leaving the iPhone 4 & 4S with iOS 5.1.1, people would be getting excited over the whole iPhone 5 package. The fact is, Apple provide free iOS upgrades to older iPhone versions. Effectively, your iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S will become a brand new handset on 19Sep if you upgrade your firmware.

 

The great benevolent Apple eh Essruu?

 

I take your point that by not making the latest version available to older phones they have reduced the pressure for users of older phones to upgrade.

 

But to cite this as if it is something special is a little blinkered in my opinion.

 

When the S3 was released I could already have been using Android 4 on my S2 for months. As it happened I waited some months before Vodafone made it available officially.

 

The principle around Android is simple. You buy the phone and from then on its simply a bunch of hardware with which you can do whatever you want.

 

If I want more memory, I buy the best price/performance memory I can find and stick it in. If I want to use a different charger, I find a new one with mini-USB. If I want a spare, or better performing battery, I buy a new one on eBay for a couple of quid. If I find something too restrictive on the standard phone, then I buy a different app that can tailor pretty much every characteristic of the phone's features. No hidden, proprietary ways of doing things to keep the money flooding in. I am simply warned that I am giving the app permission to do things. And if I'm comfortable with that, then I let it. And if I want to install an App without using the app store, I'm warned but of course I can do that too.

 

And if I really didn't like a part of the operating system, I can download a copy of it myself, change it and install it. It's free. Free as in free beer. And free as in free speech. It's a community thing.

 

But it's not the features of Android phones, or the features of the operating system that are hurting Apple at the moment. It's the community - that openness and the fact that Android is available from multiple competing manufacturers.

 

iPhone 5 is a great phone I'm sure. But come on, recognise that owning the iPhone - as great an experience as it might be, is a process dictated by Apple for which you are charged every step of the way.

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Crazy Diamond

Crazy Diamond

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O2 rang today to tell me I could have either an upgrade or an improved contract. When I told the guy on the other end that I had a 3GS he asked if I was waiting for the iPhone 5. I said "I'm interested, but not at your contract prices" - his reply "Yeah they're ridiculous aren't they." Fantastic sales routine!

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Michelle

Michelle

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The giffgaff deal is indeed spot on - they're looking at changing it slightly, but the sam deal with unlimited data for £13 instead of a tenner.

 

The only issue is these pesky new nano-sims - they're thinner as well as smaller, so not as easy to cut down. The networks all seems to have totally cocked up over providing sim-only nano's, and for new customers it's impossible to get one at the moment unless you go with three. Giffgaff's won't be ready for months, apparently. =/

 

So, Mr Essruu, seeing as you tend to be the man in the know, am I right in thinking you are already on Three, or is that just for your iPad deal at the moment? They're offering a £12.90 sim-only deal on a one month rolling contract, tempted to jump on that until giffgaff sort their **** out, but have heard horror stories about coverage being shocking...

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hypochondriac

hypochondriac

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The giffgaff deal is indeed spot on - they're looking at changing it slightly, but the sam deal with unlimited data for £13 instead of a tenner.

 

The only issue is these pesky new nano-sims - they're thinner as well as smaller, so not as easy to cut down. The networks all seems to have totally cocked up over providing sim-only nano's, and for new customers it's impossible to get one at the moment unless you go with three. Giffgaff's won't be ready for months, apparently. =/

 

So, Mr Essruu, seeing as you tend to be the man in the know, am I right in thinking you are already on Three, or is that just for your iPad deal at the moment? They're offering a £12.90 sim-only deal on a one month rolling contract, tempted to jump on that until giffgaff sort their **** out, but have heard horror stories about coverage being shocking...

 

Not happy with giffgaff. If I do want a nano sim for the new iphone then I won't even be able to port my number over.

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BlakeySFC

BlakeySFC

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I was a proud iPhone user until July this year.

 

Had the 3g, 4 and 4s since March 2009 and switched to a Galaxy S3 in July.

 

Absolutely amazing phone, does exactly what my 4S did and more, love the extra screen size and AMOLED display. Also love how fast and responsive it is compared to my 4s and how much longer the battery lasts.

 

Highly recommended by me for anyone considering upgrading/switching from their current phones

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Spudders

Spudders

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I was a proud iPhone user until July this year.

 

Had the 3g, 4 and 4s since March 2009 and switched to a Galaxy S3 in July.

 

Absolutely amazing phone, does exactly what my 4S did and more, love the extra screen size and AMOLED display. Also love how fast and responsive it is compared to my 4s and how much longer the battery lasts.

 

Highly recommended by me for anyone considering upgrading/switching from their current phones

 

having been an iphone fan, I've been waiting for the iphone 5 and whilst waiting started to consider the S3. Having now seen the 5 and been very underwhelmed, I'm considering making the move more than ever. How does the S3 deal with music, ie how do you get music on/off it? Does it have it's own itunes type thing for your computer or do you just move files?

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stu0x

stu0x

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having been an iphone fan, I've been waiting for the iphone 5 and whilst waiting started to consider the S3. Having now seen the 5 and been very underwhelmed, I'm considering making the move more than ever. How does the S3 deal with music, ie how do you get music on/off it? Does it have it's own itunes type thing for your computer or do you just move files?

From my own (admittedly very light) research, the Android equivalent seems to be something called Doubletwist. Not as fully featured as iTunes, but on the plus side doesn't bring your computer to a grinding halt.

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Essruu

Essruu

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The giffgaff deal is indeed spot on - they're looking at changing it slightly, but the sam deal with unlimited data for £13 instead of a tenner.

 

The only issue is these pesky new nano-sims - they're thinner as well as smaller, so not as easy to cut down. The networks all seems to have totally cocked up over providing sim-only nano's, and for new customers it's impossible to get one at the moment unless you go with three. Giffgaff's won't be ready for months, apparently. =/

 

So, Mr Essruu, seeing as you tend to be the man in the know, am I right in thinking you are already on Three, or is that just for your iPad deal at the moment? They're offering a £12.90 sim-only deal on a one month rolling contract, tempted to jump on that until giffgaff sort their **** out, but have heard horror stories about coverage being shocking...

 

I'm on O2 for my iPhone and Three for my iPad. I was hesitant about signing up with Three due to historic memories of complaints about their coverage and service: but Three's coverage completely knocks the socks off of O2 (+ hence Tesco, GiffGaff etc). As you know, I'm on the road all day and my iPhone and iPad are always with me. I can honestly say I can't recall an occasion EVER when I have got a better, speedier connection with O2 than Three. That is not just in and around Southampton, but London and other locations too.

 

I am just taking a break in Marchwood, having dropped some of players into training, and am having to type this on my iPad because of the rubbish data speed on my iPhone. I've just done a SpeedTest on both:

iPad / Three showing 3G = 2.98mb down, 0.67 up

iPhone / O2 showing GPRS = 0.02mb down, 0.00 up !!

 

I also just switched SIMs over to make sure it wasn't the devices that were having an impact on the results:

iPad / O2 showing GPRS = 0.19mb down, 0.01 up

iPhone / Three showing 3G = 2.96mb down, 0.58 up

 

This is in a not-very-built-up area, so it can't be argued that Three are 'only good in cities'. This is also not an uncommon scenario. On the drive up to The Emirates on Saturday, my iPad was showing 3G coverage and running fast the whole way when two other iPhones on O2 were GPRS for long stretches and struggling.

 

GiffGaff price-wise are great (I have a SIM myself but haven't properly switched from O2 for my phone) but I find the whole O2 network a lot poorer now than at any time I can remember in the years I've been with them.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Three. Give it a go. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

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Essruu

Essruu

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After all that on the phone yesterday about iPhone 5 contracts being crap, I very nearly bought one last night.

 

32GB phone, £26 a month or so for unlimited texts and calls, 1GB data, £299 for the phone. Not bad at all actually.

 

Will probably get that deal at some point.

 

That's pretty good if 1GB is enough for you. 24m x £26 + £299 = £923 [- £599 (cost of 32Gb) = £13.50 / mth]

 

Personally, 1GB isn't anywhere near enough for me. Anyone that needs more is better off with OnePlan from Three: 32GB iPhone 5 @ £89, plus 24m x £39 = £1025 [- £599 (cost of 32Gb) = £17.75 / mth]

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Crazy Diamond

Crazy Diamond

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That's pretty good if 1GB is enough for you. 24m x £26 + £299 = £923 [- £599 (cost of 32Gb) = £13.50 / mth]

 

Personally, 1GB isn't anywhere near enough for me. Anyone that needs more is better off with OnePlan from Three: 32GB iPhone 5 @ £89, plus 24m x £39 = £1025 [- £599 (cost of 32Gb) = £17.75 / mth]

 

I've no idea how much data I use. I don't think it's much. I'll check Twitter and use Safari a little bit each day, nothing more than that. To be honest I don't even need the unlimited texts and calls, but it's nice to know I won't get stung for using more than I normally do on the odd occasion.

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SB

SB

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After all that on the phone yesterday about iPhone 5 contracts being crap, I very nearly bought one last night.

 

32GB phone, £26 a month or so for unlimited texts and calls, 1GB data, £299 for the phone. Not bad at all actually.

 

Will probably get that deal at some point.

 

 

249 for the phone, and very good deal IMO, like others I've looked at the S3 however I think i'm addicted to the iphones and therefore have pre ordered, can't wait.

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saintbletch

saintbletch

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having been an iphone fan, I've been waiting for the iphone 5 and whilst waiting started to consider the S3. Having now seen the 5 and been very underwhelmed, I'm considering making the move more than ever. How does the S3 deal with music, ie how do you get music on/off it? Does it have it's own itunes type thing for your computer or do you just move files?

 

As with most things on Android, it's up to you.

 

The various music players available treat the music files as exactly that - they are just files on the android file system. There's no hidden repositories and indexing to worry about. You don't need a complex program like iTunes to maintain the library. So you can just transfer the files via USB or wirelessly using Samsung's bundled Kies software. Incidentally, you don't actually need an iTunes equivalent for Android phones. After registering your phone, you just vist http://play.google.com; make 'purchases' of apps, books, videos, etc. and they are sent to your phone wirelessly. No software, connection or syncing required. It works quite well.

 

I actually bought a 32GB microSD for about £20 and a USB adapter for a couple of quid that lets you plug the microSD card directly into a PC. This was much quicker as 30GB of music transferred wirelessly can take a while.

 

Formats shouldn't be a problem as you have a wide choice of free music players that work with mp3 and aac files natively.

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Essruu

Essruu

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I'm leaning towards the S3 TBH. Had a look on a few review sites and it does look like the best option, especially because I want to keep my PAYG sim.

 

If I were you, I'd wait until after tomorrow when you can install iOS 6. If you're jumping because of the current short supply of Nano SIMs: that situation isn't going to last forever.

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Michelle

Michelle

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If I were you, I'd wait until after tomorrow when you can install iOS 6. If you're jumping because of the current short supply of Nano SIMs: that situation isn't going to last forever.

 

I contacted the big 4 yesterday via Twitter regarding nano-sims, particularly availability of them on PAYG for new customers. All have confirmed that they will have them available, either in store or to order, by Friday at the latest, some are already making them available. This also applies to existing customers and contracts. In addition Three are currently issuing them on fixed term and rolling contracts, no word yet on PAYG. I don't think there's going to be any major issue with availability, giffgaff being the obvious exception to that rule. Just need to work out what I'm going to do now!

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hypochondriac

hypochondriac

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If I were you, I'd wait until after tomorrow when you can install iOS 6. If you're jumping because of the current short supply of Nano SIMs: that situation isn't going to last forever.

 

Combination of a few things really. I own a galaxy S and an iphone 4 and both are showing their age (I like my ipad 2 though). I have just got quite bored with IOS. Perhaps 6 will change that I suppose I shall wait and see. Personally I am pretty disappointed with the iphone 5. It doesn't really offer a lot beyond what is already available and I wanted something that would really wow me. I'm not bothered about an improved camera, what I mostly want is a really speedy device that is good for browsing the internet and the S3 looks to be the best for that. Also the giffgaff debacle and I find out that the iphone won't even be compatible with 4g unless I move to 3 (towards the end of next year) or EE. I'll probably get the S3 and then re-evaluate things this time next year.

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Essruu

Essruu

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wots so good about ios6?

 

I really can't be bothered to reply in detail to this. It is the best available OS for a handheld device.

 

If you have a compatible device to upgrade tomorrow: try it. If you don't and want to find out more: Google it.

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hypochondriac

hypochondriac

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It has an improved siri

Don't care. Used a 4S for a bit and never really used it. IMO it's more of a gimick than anything else.

It's own navigation app

 

Very happy with the existing one.

Passbook for things like electronic boarding passes

 

Won't use that. Go on holiday about once or twice a year.

 

I cloud features

Iphone is good when it restores my phone to its original state if it gets lost or stolen. Otherwise I'm not bothered. Spotify is more than good enough for all my music needs and you can get that on samsung and iphone.

 

New colour scheme

 

Meh. Anything else? Personally I didn't find IOS5 that earth shattering despite the over 200 changes apple promised.

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pedg

pedg

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wots the big deal with apple maps tho? seems like all those features are at least two years old on android.

 

Ah but in the Apple maps app you can show off your phone by showing a fly through on a limited area for a limited number of cities, mainly in the US. Or were you asking about useful features??

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Saint-scooby

Saint-scooby

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Well I am due for 3 upgrades "I run 6 phones"

I have had the iphone for over 2 years, yes its a nice phone but crap signal and battery life is ****** poor "even putting a new battery in it"

Have waited for the iphone 5 like the rest of the planet "underwhelmed" have they made the signal any better ?

So called vodafone yesterday S3 is free on an upgrade the new 5 is £99 to buy both on the same tarriff.

I will keep my Nokia 6303 has been a total legend for the last 24 months, dropped almost daily signal everywhere, long battery life.. when the iphone has died its there to save the day

 

So S3 or iphone 5

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Essruu

Essruu

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... what I mostly want is a really speedy device that is good for browsing the internet and the S3 looks to be the best for that.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/9551873/iPhone-5-review.html

 

“Starting the phone, loading apps, or taking photos – everything is faster on the iPhone 5. Benchmarking with the Geekbench app has shown that the iPhone 5 is not just faster than the iPhone 4S but it also outperforms Samsung’s Galaxy S3.”

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sussexsaint

sussexsaint

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I appreciate not many will have been as sad as me to watch the entire keynote but as a piece of hardware the iPhone 5 is an astonishing piece of engineering.

 

Yes there are not many earth shattering changes, but it is a mature piece of technology that many of us rely on day to day.

I neither want nor need a massive screen on my phone, for one thing it has to fit in my pocket.

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hypochondriac

hypochondriac

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/9551873/iPhone-5-review.html

 

“Starting the phone, loading apps, or taking photos – everything is faster on the iPhone 5. Benchmarking with the Geekbench app has shown that the iPhone 5 is not just faster than the iPhone 4S but it also outperforms Samsung’s Galaxy S3.”

 

Minutely faster for something that on PAYG will cost me £150 more. Also just been looking about IOS6:

 

Not much of an update for those on iOS5, unless you want speed and better battery life perhaps.
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JPTCount

JPTCount

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can't u do fly bys on google earth?

 

and the amazing new screen size/phone size combo is being blown up, personally i think the s3 is too big a screen, and makes the unit look too big, over 4.5 u may as well get a 7" tablet imo.

 

just compare it to the xperia arc, which i've had for 16/17 months now, it has a 4.2 inch screen & its dimensions are 125×63×8.7 mm (actually 7mm in the middle because of the curve), so its 1.2mm taller, 4.4mm slimmer & 1.1mm thinner at the ends, but the screen is still 10mm smaller! and its as old as the white iphone 4!! lol

 

and that telegraph article is so bias, and the video is even worse.

 

honestly, i think this could be the moment when apple finally fall off. they have failed to even catch up with current android handsets, let alone blow them out the water. changing the connector when everyone else is using a universal charger seems ludicrous, and they only release one top of the range model, where as samsung/sony/htc release a whole range. and a more innovative doing it.

 

for the same money i could buy an iphone5 for, i could get this...

 

Sony-Eric_Xperia-S_Black_White_Watch.jpg

 

it still disappoints me they never did this with the ipod nano, but wotever the iphone 5 has its not cooler than a watch like Michael Knight's! :)

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hypochondriac

hypochondriac

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A more fair and detailed CNet review by someone who has acute ally used the iPhone 5 for a week.

 

http://t.co/0otwvxFL

 

he iPhone 5, had it been revealed last year, would have felt like the future. This year, after more than a year of anticipation, it feels expected, unsurprising. That doesn't mean it isn't excellent. To get 4G LTE and a larger screen, plus what seems so far like equivalent-or-better battery life, into an even lighter new phone is a big achievement. In a mission-critical device, you want polish and refinement, not big, bold experimentation. This is a phone, not an amusement park ride.

Sure, I feel frustrations with the general lack of surprise the iPhone 5 seems to emit. Part of that's due to the endless rumors and leaks of the new iPhone, which turned out to be correct. Part of that's due to a mobile computing industry that's moving fast, and has many players. Apple's just one of them. I wanted faster connections speeds to justify the new Lightning dock connector. I wanted NFC-like technology to magically work with Passbook. I wanted a smarter, clever new pull-down Notifications screen or dock to take advantage of the new, longer screen. I wanted something I hadn't thought of, but that would suddenly seem indispensable.

Other phones seem to be trying to lead the pack with new ideas, while Apple takes a more conservative path with the well-designed iPhone. Some wonder what the future of phones will be. Has the iPhone lost its edge? There are plenty of competitors now that offer what the iPhone has, and maybe even more, depending on if you value NFC, extra-large screens, or pressure-sensitive styli. I can't tell you whether the iPhone beats all Android devices. It'll never be what many Android phones are right now, for better and sometimes for worse.

 

So not a lot has changed really. Certainly not much to justify another £500 from myself I don't think.

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hypochondriac

hypochondriac

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i agree but good luck to those who want one but i think those with 4s need to think hard if they need to upgrade and that there are better smartphones on the market.

 

A sim free S3 is going to cost me about 350 whereas the iphone 5 will cost me about 170 more. For the same outlay I can get the S3 and a nexus 7 tablet. I see little to justify the huge price increase other than build quality but I will be getting insurance anyway so that isn't an issue.

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Essruu

Essruu

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Once you've wowed and changed the world with a new type of product, how can you keep doing that other than incremental improvements here and there? The iPhone and iPad changed the world - other manufacturers then copy and everyone has a 'similar' product that is very difficult to make a similar world-changing improvement upon, because it's already been invented.

 

The Wright brothers' world changing invention has been improved upon over the years with technological advances, but essentially it's just a flying machine the same as that of the Wright brothers.

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hypochondriac

hypochondriac

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Once you've wowed and changed the world with a new type of product, how can you keep doing that other than incremental improvements here and there? The iPhone and iPad changed the world - other manufacturers then copy and everyone has a 'similar' product that is very difficult to make a similar world-changing improvement upon, because it's already been invented.

 

The Wright brothers' world changing invention has been improved upon over the years with technological advances, but essentially it's just a flying machine the same as that of the Wright brothers.

 

I agree the iphone was a brilliant invention. I love my macbook air as well. If the products are similar then what am I paying £150 extra for other than build quality (which as I said I'm not overly bothered about.) Most other differences will be the OS (and I'm comfortable with IOS and Android) and barely noticeable speed increases.

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